The new cultivar is product of a planned breeding program conducted by the inventors, Kenneth Tobutt and Fiona Wilson in Kent, United Kingom. The objective of the breeding program was to produce new Sambucus nigra varieties similar to the known variety ‘Eva’, with a compact plant form. The crossing resulting in this new variety was made during 2005.
The seed parent is the patented commercial variety known as Sambucus ‘Eva’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 15,575. The pollen parent is an unpatented, unnamed proprietary seedling of Sambucus nigra. The new variety was selected during 2006 by the inventor in a group of seedlings resulting from the 2005 crossing, in a seedling trial field in Kent, UK.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar was performed by softwood cuttings. This was first performed at a nursery in Kent, United Kingdom in Summer of 2007 and has shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type in 3 successive generations.